Extraordinary footage has been released of an indigenous man who has lived alone in the Amazon rainforest.

The man, believed to be in his 50s, appears to be in good health as he uses his axe on a tree while being captured on camera for the very first time.

The footage was filmed in 2011.

Many indigenous populations in the various forests making up the Amazon have been murdered and kicked out by farmers and loggers, and the man is thought to be the only survivor of a group of six killed during an attack in 1995.

Brazilian government agency Funai - dedicated to protecting the interests and culture of the country's indigenous population - has been monitoring him since 1996 but no contact has ever been made.

Altair Algayer, regional coordinator for Rondonia state at the department, told The Guardian the man clearly wanted nothing to do with modern society.

"It is his sign of resistance, and a little repudiation, hate, knowing the story he went through," he explained.

"He is very well, hunting, maintaining some plantations of papaya, corn. He has good health and a good physical shape doing all those exercises."

Image:There are many indigenous tribes across the Amazon

Known as the "indigenous man in the hole", until now the only publicised glimpse of him was in a Brazilian documentary called Corumbiara - named after a region of Rondonia - in 1998.

He is known to hunt forest pigs, birds and monkeys with a bow and arrow, and also sets traps for his prey using hidden holes full of sharpened wood.

Funai - which has a policy of not intervening with indigenous people - believes there are plenty of other tribes living in the Amazon who have yet to be contacted, with current estimates at there being 113 tribes in Brazil alone.